Minimum wage ‘tip credit’ concept gets cold shoulder

Some restaurant owners said last week that paying tipped workers the same minimum wage as back-of-the-house staff would increase inequity in the food service industry. But tipped workers and labor advocates said this week that no other California city takes this approach to restaurant wages, and that Berkeley shouldn’t be the first. Photo: D.H. Parks

By Emilie Raguso

BERKELEYSIDE: As volunteer Berkeley commissioners struggled this week with how to approach the mayor’s office’s request to help craft a new minimum wage policy for the city, many were in agreement as to what the wrong approach would be: setting special parameters for tipped workers.

At a Berkeley Chamber of Commerce meeting last week, restaurant association reps and local business owners said they hope the city will consider a different — likely lower — minimum wage for tipped employees. Some cities have taken that approach to account for servers who are able to bring in large amounts in gratuities. But opponents of the tip credit say it doesn’t exist anywhere else in California, and that Berkeley shouldn’t be the first.